Three Hearts
by Angeldovey
Summary: This fic delves into the entangled hearts of Angel, Buffy and Spike. The eternal question that The Girl In Question should have offered an answer to. Please Review, I will reciprocate.


Summary: Buffy is called to LA on the eve of the final fight in the episode "Not Fade Away" This scene delves into the entangled hearts of Angel, Buffy, and Spike. The eternal question that "The Girl In Question" should have offered an answer to.

Location: The garage of Wolfram and Hart

Time: Before the final meeting at Spike's apartment.

Three Hearts

Angel walked into the garage to see Buffy standing with her back to him. "Buffy," Angel said in a choked whisper as his throat tightened unexpectedly at the sight of her.

Buffy turned with a smile and moved to embrace him. "It's really good to see you. I was surprised you asked me to come. I worried it could only mean bad news." She was rambling now, with the lilt of a joke in her voice. "I mean, isn't that the only reason we see each other anymore, because the world is about to end?"

"Well, to keep in the spirit of consistency, I started an Apocalypse," Angel said, and watched as her smile disappeared.

"You're serious?"

"Yeah" Angel said, his tone now confirming how serious he really was.

"Wow, you must have really been missing me. You do know that we're supposed to stop those not start them, right?" Her smile returned as she said this.

"Well, things were slow at work…" Angel had begun the sentence intent on lightening the mood, but this was not one of those times. "Trust me, this one needed to be started, it was only a matter of time and I decided the best defense was an off….you know, it's a really long story and we don't have much time."

"Ok, where do you want me? Do you think we have time to bring over Willow, Faith, and the other slayers? If it's as bad –"

Angel cut her off. "Buffy, that's not why I asked you here. You once asked me to be your second front, now I'm going to ask the same of you." He was all business now. She needed to know how dire the situation really was.

"Oh, _I'm_ sorry," Buffy said in reproach to what she had seemingly taken as an insult. "Are you saying that you don't want me in this fight; that you can't use me in this fight?"

"It's not your fight," Angel replied a little too harshly. He quickly realized this when he noticed how taken aback she was at his statement, and tempered his voice in response to her reaction. "I started this Buffy, and I need to finish it."

"Unless this has to do with Acathla, and the two of you have been playing blood games again, I am going to be here for you. The others can be the second front." Buffy looked at him, a defiance etched into the beauty of her features. Angel had known this was going to be a fight. He hadn't expected anything less from her, and smiled at the stubbornness that easily outshined his own.

"It doesn't work that way. This one is mine. You can have the next one, I promise." Angel's smile returned, removing all signs of the seriousness that had lined his brow.

Buffy looked at him suspiciously. "I know there's something you're not telling me –"

Angel stopped her in mid sentence by grabbing her in a passionate kiss. It was even better than he remembered, if that was even possible when it came to Buffy. He couldn't believe he was still so deeply affected by her after all this time. They had been through so much together, and he knew she would always be the only woman he would ever love, just as she was the only woman he _had_ ever loved. To let go of something he had finally found after more than 240 years of existence, 100 of those years with a soul, was the most difficult thing he had ever done in his eternal life. Even the ongoing battle for redemption was easier.

He hadn't known he was searching for her, had needed her, until she was there, under his skin from the first moment he had seen her. He couldn't imagine his life without her. He had held out hope for so long that they would be able to be together one day. The Shanshu prophesy had given him that hope, and he had nearly cried in front of the Circle of the Black Thorn as he had signed it away in his continued charade to prove his loyalty to them. But when the world was at stake and thus her life, it hadn't ever been a choice, just a consequence of his very existence. He pulled away from her slowly, noticing he was not the only one deeply affected by the kiss. As a tear began its solitary journey down her cheek, he reached up intent on wiping it away. His reward was a powerful punch to his jaw that nearly sent him to the ground in its slayer strength.

"So, was it good for you too?" he replied in astonishment at her reaction.

"I knew it! I knew there was something you weren't telling me. You think you're not going to make it out of this one!" Buffy was now yelling at him, which was especially painful due to his super vampire hearing.

"Buffy, no I –" Angel stuttered, but she cut him off before he could finish.

"Oh, please," she said in obvious exasperation. "That was totally a 'goodbye forever, see you in the hereafter,' kiss."

"Buffy, really –"

Buffy laughed with incredulity. "What I can't believe is that you actually thought you could get away with that? That I wouldn't know? I invented that kiss, remember skewer boy? Familiar yet?"

"Buffy listen to me, we are running out of time." Angel looked at his watch as he said this, looking back up into her eyes as he pleaded with her to let him finish explaining why he had asked her here.

"No we aren't because I am not going anywhere." _And there it was again_, Angel thought, as he watched the stubbornness return to her eyes.

Angel stepped forward, and took her hand gently in his, placing their joined hands on his chest, over his still, unbeating heart. "You are the only woman who has ever made me feel with my heart. The regaining of my sense of humanity that came with loving you, the desire that cost me my soul in its perfection, the ache I feel everyday over having had to leave and stay away from you for both our sakes; its all there, in my heart. And now, all I can feel is the sharp pain that inevitably comes with your presence, knowing I must leave you again." Angel's eyes began to glisten as he fought back the tears that were now freely flowing down Buffy's face. "Please don't cry," Angel pleaded, "you know I could never stand to see you cry."

Buffy pulled him in close and kissed the corner of his eye, absorbing with her warm soft lips the tear that was attempting to break free from the prison of his lid. Angel continued in a shaky voice, "no matter what happens, it will always be you I feel in my heart. That is why you have to go. When you're around, whether I see you or not, - I feel you - inside - and it throws me."

"It throws me, too," Buffy answered in a soft whisper.

"You are a distraction that I can't afford," Angel said, his eyes intently staring into hers, "I'm sorry…but you have to go."

"I feel like all we ever do is leave one another. I'm tired of leaving," Buffy said in a shuttering sob.

"I know," Angel said sadly, struggling to regain control of his emotions. "However, I was thinking that when I'm through saving the world," a smile now played across his lips as he continued, "I thought we could meet up, maybe in Rome, actually see each other this time. You could take me out for coffee, and if I'm really lucky, maybe a cookie?" He said the last with a suggestive look, and his reward was the light he watched touch her eyes. Her sad resigned smile confirmed that his first battle of the night was over. _One down, one to go_, he thought. Angel leaned down one last time to give her a soft kiss, and reluctantly released her hand that fit so perfectly in his; fearing it would be the last time he felt its all encompassing warmth.

"Angel, you know I –"

Angel stopped her by placing a finger softly against her lips. "Tell me in Rome." Just then he heard the voice he had been expecting, but secretly hoping wouldn't come, though he had requested its presence.

"Angel, what the bloody hell am I doing here, and where the bugger are you?" Spike said this as he turned the corner, and Angel watched as Spike halted in obvious shock at the sight before him.

"Slayer?" Spike said, his voice filled with disbelief.

Angel reluctantly removed his finger from Buffy's mouth and lightly caressed her cheek before he backed away from her. He watched as she looked from Spike, back to him, then back to Spike again. She was obviously in a major state of confusion, and Angel had to struggle to regain her attention. "I told you we were running out of time."

"I thought you meant-" Buffy stopped abruptly as Angel turned his attention to Spike, who still stood staring in awe at her presence.

"Spike, you have 15 minutes, then I expect to see you back at your place to meet the others. We have strategy to finalize." He said this in the voice he reserved only for Spike. There was no mistaking that it was not a suggestion but an order. Spike's only response to Angel's statement was a slight nod of his head, which spoke volumes about his obvious shock. Spike always had a comeback ready, but this time he uttered not a word. Angel decided that would have to be good enough, and took one final look at Buffy as he turned to walk away.

"Angel…are you still my – "

Angel stopped at the sound of Buffy's sweet voice and turned to look back at her. Still backing away, he answered her before she could finish the question, knowing immediately what it was, remembering he had asked her a similar one years ago, and his response mirrored the one she had given him then, "Always."

And with this final exchange, Angel turned and walked out of the garage.

Spike walked hesitantly toward Buffy, but she wasn't the least hesitant in offering him a crushing hug. "Well, that was disconcerting," Spike said, looking back to the door Angel had just departed through.

"What?" Buffy asked.

"Obviously Angel thinks we're going to die fighting in this thing, or he never would have left me alone with you," Spike said in all seriousness.

"Not really the thought I want to entertain right now."

"So, are you here for the big show? I'm beginning to think the Apocalypse in Sunnydale was just a little overture, and now I'm about to see the real performance." Spike looked at her, warming at the thought of having her fighting by his side again. Then he instantly cooled at the thought of her being in danger all anew.

"No, actually Angel just wanted to give me info in case he can't stop this. He just needs a second front."

Spike looked at her, incredulous at the naivete of her statement, and replied with a brief laugh and shake of his head. "And there are no phones in Europe? What Ithink is that he needed to see you. You have a way of giving a man strength, Slayer."

"What I think is he knew how important it was for you to see me as well." Buffy's gaze bored into his, and in it he could feel her conviction.

"Probably just a bribe to make sure I hold up my end of this fight, a guilt trip really," Spike said offhandedly.

"You know, for as much bluster you two throw at one another, you are far more alike than either of you will ever admit."

"Well, I guess you're proof of that," Spike said pointedly.

Buffy inhaled a shaky breath as she took Spike's hand in hers. "Spike –" Buffy began.

"You don't have to say anything Slayer; I've always known I never had a real chance with you. The only man you've ever loved is Nancy boy with his endless brooding."

"Spike, that's not what I was going to say, and besides, you're wrong. You have a place in my heart and Angel knows that. He didn't bring you to see me for your benefit; he did it for mine. He knew how important it would be to me." The directness of Buffy's statement told him she truly believed this and wanted to make sure he knew it as well.

As Spike listened to her plead for his understanding of the import of her statement, he looked down at their joined hands.

"You know, the last time we touched like this we caught on fire. You and me have always been a dangerous combination, Slayer." His voice was as seductive as the eyes he raised to meet hers.

"The last time we were like this I told you I loved you," Buffy whispered, her gaze never leaving his.

"And I told you you didn't," he gently reminded her, and tore his gaze from hers to look back down at their joined hands. He attempted to pull away from her, but Buffy held strong.

"And I never had the chance to tell you that I did." Her voice was no longer a whisper as she stressed the importance of her statement. Spike looked up from their joined hands with genuine surprise, and a hint of distrust as she continued. "You once said to me that you were a monster, but I treated you like a man. Well, you haven't been a monster for a long time, even then you weren't. I wouldn't have left my sister's fate in the hands of a monster.

"Buffy –"

"Spike, just listen for once," she said exasperatedly. "I've seen your kindness and your strength. I've seen the best and the worst of you. And I understand with perfect clarity exactly what you are. Does that sound at all familiar to you?"

Spike couldn't tear his gaze from hers. Her statement took him back to that moment in the abandoned house in Sunnydale when he had knelt in front of her and said those very words. Never had he felt more like a man than he did at this moment. And then she did the most amazingly unexpected thing. She kissed him. It wasn't a kiss of passion. It was the kind of kiss they had never had the chance to experience during their tumultuous past; and it was sweeter than anything he had ever experienced with her; it was perfect.

"Bugger, I should have known, Angel breath," Spike said with a sigh.

"Don't make me hit you too," Buffy warned. Spike stopped his bristling and drew her in for one last crushing embrace.

"I said don't make me hit you," Buffy stated again, this time the warning more tangible of immanent action.

"What are you talking about?" Spike said, completely confused by her statement.

"Listen, you already died once saving the world, so the way I see it somebody owes you one. Do you think you could manage to save the world this time without burning alive?"

"Do you see me flashing anything remotely Elizabeth Taylor? I do learn from past experience, especially ones regarding pain, and I have no desire to again suffer exploding eyeballs. That kind of thing leaves a strong impression you're not likely to forget anytime…well ever." Buffy smiled at him, and he reluctantly let go of her hand.

"You better get going," Buffy said, "Angel seemed strangely all General Shwartzcoffy. You probably shouldn't piss him off by being late." Spike took one last heady look at her and turned to go.

"William…"

Spike turned around hesitantly, he knew she was deadly serious now.

"I can't lose you both. No, that's not true. I can't lose either of you. Watch each other's backs, for me." Buffy's voice was full of the desperation he knew she was feeling at having to leave them to go into battle without her.

Spike looked into her eyes, the confidence of his statement burning in his gaze. "I'll be seeing you soon, Buffy, we both will."

And on that parting note he turned to go. He was off to fight the good fight and protect Buffy's heart, which sodding meant protecting Angel. And he thought the impending Apocalypse was the worst it could get.

But he had made a promise to a lady. And this time, nothing was going to stand in the way of him keeping it.

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A/N - So, what did you think? Please review. Thanks to the following reviewers for their well thought out and inspiring reviews. It is much appreciated! 

BlackbAngeL, AngstAddicted, brencon, & uskohakuchan


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